RealGM

I don't frequent these boards as much as the Raps so I apologize if this has been posted.

http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/mets/wfa ... z0b719HyOC

The Mets have reached agreement on a four-year, $66 million agreement with Jason Bay pending a physical, The Post has learned.

Mets officials refused to confirm the agreement, largely because the results of a physical are not complete and the Mets do not want to embarrass themselves by confirming a deal then having to back away should Bay not pass the physical -- think the humiliation and legal hassle with Yorvit Torrealba a few years back.

And the physical might not be a formality. There has been a lot of talk in the sport that the Red Sox were hesitant to do a long-term deal with Bay because they were concerned about the health of his shoulders.

New York Times has it also:

http://bats.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/2 ... ract-deal/

The Mets made Bay a four-year, $64 million offer weeks ago, then watched as nothing happened. Speculation increased that Bay, mindful of the Mets’ poor record in 2009 and the difficulty of hitting home runs in the Mets’ new stadium, did not really want to play in Queens and was looking for other offers from other teams.

But no other club appeared ready to come close to the Mets’ offer and now the Mets have gotten the player they wanted. The agreement between the Mets and Bay was first reported by WFAN radio and was confirmed by a major league executive who did not want his name used because the deal was not yet official.

Pressure's on now, Jason.

Now the Jays will receive a 3rd rounder and a supplemental pick for Scutaro. Same thing happened last year to the Jays with A.J. This blows

mouse wrote:Now the Jays will receive a 3rd rounder and a supplemental pick for Scutaro. Same thing happened last year to the Jays with A.J. This blows

No we don't. Redsox signed Marco, right now we stand to get their 2nd round pick since they signed a higher type A FA in John Lackey

Yeah, no damage done to our pick. From that standpoint, this is a good thing...the Mets were one of the 15 worst teams, so they'll only give up their 2nd (plus a comp. rounder) rather than a 1st. Which is nice, as Boston already has the 16th pick thanks to Billy Wagner.

Good fit for Bay and the Mets IMO. Bay can still be a bit under the radar with higher profile players around him (Reyes, Wright, Beltran, Santana). But the Mets still need pitching badly.

Boston gets a 1st rounder for Wagner and we get bumped down to a 2nd rounder because they signed Lackey. I like the compensation system in principle, but sometimes it's so backwards.

Hoopstarr wrote:Boston gets a 1st rounder for Wagner and we get bumped down to a 2nd rounder because they signed Lackey. I like the compensation system in principle, but sometimes it's so backwards.

If a team has a first rounder -- whether their original pick, compensation for a lost free agent, or compensation for failing to sign a pick the previous year -- they should have to surrender it. IMO, it's idiotic that the Yankees got to pick in the first round last year despite signing three Type-As, and Boston could have ended up with two first rounders despite signing two Type-As.

The compensation system is designed partially to prevent teams from monopolizing free agency, but instead the diminishing marginal cost actually encourages that...after you've signed one, the penalty becomes more and more negligible. And if you're smart and let your own free agents walk while signing replacements of a similar calibre, you actually end up with more picks than if you had simply re-signed your FAs in the first place...in essence, it's an incentive to overhaul your roster on a near-constant basis.